is a former chief justice, massachusetts -- with absolutely no legislative experience. it would be a very peculiar sacrifice of experience if you chose anyone other than barney frank, because there is no one in the mix who has actual experience in legislating in washington. >> yeah, i mean, i think judge marshal's name has been floated. and there are judges who have gone on to be big effective senators, george mitchell, of course, being a classic example. but it is not common. barney frank, and you, have outlined a very substantive case. and for most who have watched politics from a distance, it makes sense if you have a job are limited time you want somebody with experience, the way you want somebody who played in the minors, before you have them play in the majors, particularly if it is only for a few games. >> like you and me, of course,

he used to be a senate staffer before he ever went off into his judicial career. >> people always tell me that lawrence o'donnell and ari remind them of george mitchell. >> same guy, thanks, ari. "the ed show" is up next. >> tea for two. let's play "hardball." >> good evening, let's start with this. barack and hillary, good-bye or hello? last night's dual appearance on "60 minutes" a fine good-bye or a statement? was it the president saying i know which way the wind is blowing? was it barack obama saying i want a democrat to replace moe?

any way you listen to it, i think secretary clinton will run for president. i don't see how she can walk away from it. she's the one woman right now in the picture that can win the presidency next time. not only that, i think she's the favorite of either gender or party to win the president in 2016. all of her backers across the country that she doesn't want to win. this is the big story in politics right now. it's the story of sups pence only because it's about whether she singles her move. once someone gets out there, it puts their very being on the platform. in secretary hillary clinton's place, she carries not just her first name, but her husbands. he clearly wants her to run and he will lobby her like mad. i don't know of a more per swas i have person in the country. and i can only assume he holds special interests with his wife.

hillary clinton, i believe she made that student when she was in welsey even before she met william jefferson clinton. and that decision holds. so get ready for a real doosey this time around. i'm joined right now by a pro and a future super star already on the way to greatness, joy. i always say this. i feel like i'm the biggest booster in the plan et. >> let's watch this right now. it looks like the president boosted this interview. he prefaced by this saying president obama's idea. he then asked the question on everyone's mind, why? let's listen to steve and then the president. >> if main thing is i just wanted to have a chance to publicly say thank you.

i think hillary will go down as one of the finest secretary of states this country has ever had. and a lot of the successes we've had internationally. >> joy, that was a fairly labored response. we don't have any tea. >> she could have stayed for eight. what does it mean to you that the president gave her? i don't think that was a gold watch ceremony last night. i think that was a poor tent. a statement. >> i think it was an attempt by the president to bestow a little favor on hillary clinton. joe biden, who a lot of people also believe really wants to

run. and i think he's been sending a lot of signals out there that he's very much interested in getting excited. he's got a lot of big assignments and has gotten a lot of favor from the president of the president of the united states. i think is itching it a little bit in hillary's favor. the job she ended uptaking was a lot higher profiled in the end than the vice president. which a lot of hillary wanted her to make him his running mate. he gave her an even higher profile in a lot of wayings. and now he's giving her a huge boost in 2016. >> well, my question to you, since you raised, joy u will joe biden quilt if she runs? will he pull out of the race -- if he's in the race for a year or two, will he pull out? >> you know, chris, i think the game between biden and hillary has been this. i don't think they would primary each other. but i think each of them has been trying to put facts on the ground. he's trying to put those facts out there. i think if she makes a strong move to run, i think biden will back down.

the president is going to have to have a conversation with one of these two and i say i've got to back one of you. the president wants his legacy to be another democratic president. >> howard, if you don't know, you don't know. but my question is you and i lived through mccarthy, kennedy. that was terrible. two great candidates, heroic candidates forced to run against each other. her husband, bill clinton is still a major figure in the party, even though that galls barack obama. it wouldn't help to have this other family in the democratic tent out there undermining obama's candidacy -- excuse me, obama's presidency in any way.

this is a good-will gesture on the way out the door to keep her on base, absolutely. to keep her close. keep your friends, you know, your enemies close and your friends closer. >> that's a good god father role i've always played. she answered rather forthrightly, will joe biden bow out if it's clear hillary is running? >> i think so. and i think so because hillary has a much deeper, broader base in the party. i know joe biden well, i covered him for a long time. if he assesses the situation a couple years down the road and sees that the clinton machine is still out there, and by the way, hillary took the whole clinton machine to the state department. that was hillaryland over there. that wasn't obamaland. >> i understand that completely. >> that's still strong, i think joe biden will look at it and say i'm not sure i've got the organization. do it. and, also, he might not want to call the president out on it and take the gamble with the president because i'm not sure he would necessarily get the answer that he'd want to hear.

>> steve kroft, by the way, tried to get at the political interviewist. this is rare. if you get an interview of this incredible quality, the president and the secretary of state, the president and two most important people with the democratic party, you don't ask why you got it. here he is. aparentally, again, trying to figure out why the two showed up together. here he is again, steve crawford. >> i have to ask you what's the date of expiration on this endorsement. >> oh, steve, i know. >> i have to ask that question. come on. i mean, you're sitting here together. everybody is talking about it already. and this is taking place. >> you know, steve, i've got to tell you. you guys in the press are incorrigible. i was literally inaugurated four days ago. and you're talking about elections four years from now. >> and i am, as you know, steve, i am still secretary of state. so i am out of politics. and i'm forbidden from even

hearing these questions. >> as steve martin would famously say excuse me. they asked to come on "60 minutes." they liked the press coverage they got today and last night. they love the fact they're talking about it or they wouldn't have done the show. it just seems to be weird on the part of the president. >> did you see the body language only hillary? that is a woman that knows that the presidency is basically hers for the taking if she wants it? who could stop her. she is as relaxed as i've ever seen her. the best thing to do is step back, get out of this job right now and spend the next three years preparing herself to run for president if she wantings it. >> was this a move -- so many things in politics follow other things that wouldn't have happened if they didn't have that thing before them. do you think this was to give her a really nice sendoff after the rather unpleasant experience with ron johnson and rand paul and those hearings this week. >> that's number one. i think the president and

hillary have a mutual interest in having benghazi go away. another thing was something you mentioned to me earlier which is that the president who has gotten a lot of criticism lately for not having picked a lot of new nominees for who aren't white males and to remind people that one of the most important picks of his first term was a woman and not just any woman, but hillary rodham clinton ill think was a big deal. he was kind of reminding everybody, especially reminding women and hillary supporters and activists and feminists. look who's sitting next to me. i made this person secretary of state. the additional benefit of editing bill clinton completely out of the picture. the real attention here is bill

clinton and barack obama. it's like the big chill turn into the big freeze. >> okay, hold that thought. let me get back to joy. remember he was still when george w. was elected president. bill was speaking out on a separate screen. let me ask you, i thought of this and howard did give me credit for it in the green room before we came in. i said one reason why he put that the secretary of state on television with him as an equal. they talked about each other being partners, almost, wasn't ameliorated, softened, the lack of any woman the top position is named for the second term. and it did shut everybody up in a very nice way. it's smart, cosmetic politics. >> no, definitely. it puts her in the buddy act. you've seen him and his new chief of staff. and there is a sort of bud sdi act that he's got going on. but one of the things that you haven't seen a lot. if you think about it, one of the pairings, you haven't seen a lot of over the last four years

is barack obama and hillary clinton next to each other. i think it's important not just for the cosmetics, but because you've got to at some point mix match hillary land and obama world. they're still two camps in washington. >> those 40 or 50 people working in the state department whose jobs cease to exist the day she leaves. what will they all do for a living while she decides whether she's running or not? >> well, i think a lot of them will become the sort of staff on the ground that's in the hillary clinton campaign and waiting. a lot of them have become policy advisors. i'm sure some will remain and you'll see some people that will stay on because it's a good-will gesture from carey land. >> i agree with joy. i agree with joy. i think john kerry is going to do hillary clinton a favor. >> some. >> at least for a while. >> at least for a decent interval. >> so it's a fast discussion. we love it. as long as hillary is in the news, the news is exciting. i think joy agrees with me.

i think howard probably agrees with me, but keeping his powder dry. he's just smiling now. i don't see why anybody walks away from the presidency. but then, again, i also say i don't think we can predict the future. >> i also think it's about obama managing the next few years on his own. he wants to keep her in view and on a friendly basis. >> and therefore, keep your enemies in front of you. thank you. either way, it was a great acting performance by both last night or it was something really porntd. anyway, thank you, howard, my friend, who shares in the skepticism which makes this a wonderful business, journalism. joy reid, you're great. i'm known for saying that. on wednesday, hillary clinton is andrea mitchell's guest at 1:00 p.m. wednesday on this network. coming up, a bipartson group creating a path way for legal

immigrants to become citizens. it sounds great. will republicans vote for it? will it have teeth? will it work when so many past efforts in policy have failed. also, president obama has hoped his reelection will break the republican fever of endless obstructions. but even he admits it hasn't happened yet. and now we have paul ryan saying ignoring the country's problems. paul ryan, you're the biggest disapointment right, left or krenter in this country. her contract is gone. no thanks to keep her on the payroll. a lot of people stopped being the stupid party, maybe getting rid of that part of who knows, maybe cnn will pick her up. new conspiracies, but old ones die. first they question whether hillary clinton had a concussion. now they want to know whether she was pushed. sickos, you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup

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president obama's losing another key senate ally. iowa senator tom harkin announced over the weekend he won't run for a sixth term next year. that opens up a jump ball situation in the hawkeye state. on the democrat side u.s. congressman bruce braley is the early favoritem and tom vilsack, his wife christie, and former governor chet culver. but the republicans may be in for another soul searching primary crisis as tom latham and extreme conservative steve king may both have their eyes on that senate seat. we'll be right back.

welcome back to "hardball." a group of eight senators, four democrats, four republicans, unveiled today what they say is a major breakthrough in the immigration debate. the plan would offer a path to citizenship for the millions of people, about 12 million of them, here illegally. it also promises to put some teeth into enforcement. chuck schumer of new york and john mccain of arizona were two of the senators. here is what they said today.

>> other bipartisan groups of senators have stood in the same spot before trumpeting similar proposals, but we believe this will be the year congress finally gets it done. the politics on this issue have been turned upside down. for the first time ever, there's more political risk in opposing immigration reform than in supporting it. >> what's going on now is unacceptable. in reality what's been created is a de facto amnesty. we have been too content for too long to allow individuals to mow our lawn, serve our food, clean our homes, and even watch our children while not affording them any of the benefits that make our country so great. >> here is what the plan includes. the creation of what the senators call a tough but fair path to citizenship. strengthening border security with new tools. establishing an effective

employment verification system to prevent employers from hiring illegal workers. most will be given a provisional status. they would have to go to the back of the line to get their green card. will it work? and will republicans in the house be willing to go along with the plan? linda sanchez is a democratic congresswoman from california. stephanie cutter is the former deputy campaign manager for president obama's re-election. you know, congresswoman, as you know, like most americans i have always thought it idiotic on the part of the republicans to even talk about sending home over 10 million people who have been living here in this country for years. it's not going to ever happen. it would be a hideous thing to watch it in effect, people being ripped from their families. but i believe no true reform is ever going to work nor should it be approved that doesn't have enforcement behind it. unless that stops, the other thing isn't going to be effective either.

do you think this bill has both teeth and is a good thing for the people living here, both? >> well, it's important to remember that what the thinking of eight unveiled is sort of an outline. it's actually not a written bill yet. so there are details that still need to be worked out, but the very fact that there is agreement and the very fact that it's a bipartisan effort and the very fact that republican senators are now supporting this earned pathway to citizenship or legalization is a tremendous, tremendous about-face from where our immigration policy has been. >> look, i have been around long enough. we have done immigration before. passed a big comprehensive bipartisan bill with all the signatures and everything, everybody smiling, and it was a joke. it was called simpson/mazzoli. alan simpson still thinks he was screwed by it because it didn't have any teeth. it looked nice and got some people here legally, but it never solved the problem of illegal immigration. just because it's bipartisan, do

you believe that means it's going to work? >> i think that it's definitely a sign of positive things to come. i mean, the devil is always in the details and, yes, enforcement is being tied in this bill to the pathway to citizenship, but you have to remember, too, there are a lot of moving parts to immigration, and you touch one piece of it, and you have to work and tinker with other parts of it, and i think ultimately with the stepped up enforcement, we have seen stepped up enforcement in the last four years, we have seen much tighter border security. we've seen fewer people coming into the country illegally, and i think if we can separate out those who want to come for legitimate reasons and those who come for criminal reasons and alleviate that pressure at the border, i think that we are well on our way to an effective immigration solution. >> stephanie, you're in politics, and i cover politics.

you know the politics of this. it needs to have both sides to it. if people can still come in the country tomorrow and there's no real work permit that's effective like you have in every other country in the world, including mexico, where you have to have a right to work somewhere, you have to have permission to work in the country, we don't seem to have a way of doing it. we know our country is filled with people working in every kind of job, whether it's restaurants or working on people's houses or cutting their lawns or working at golf courses or hotels. we know it's all over the place. people here who have come in the country illegally. nobody i think has confidence -- i certainly don't -- that any bill passed by congress that we've seen before will stop that. you can bring everybody in here into our system, you can give them the opportunity for full citizenship, but if we have to do this again in 23 or 25 years, we've gotten nowhere. we have to be a country that's organized enough to say who comes in and who doesn't it seems to me. your thoughts? >> i agree with you. and i don't think there's anybody that would disagree with you. and the congresswoman is right, the devil is in the details, but it seems like what the senate -- the bipartisan group of senators put out today does have some

real teeth in it. what the president has put out previously also has some real teeth in it. let's not forget that the president has made historic increases in border security, that net migration with mexico right now is basically zero. and, you know, let's remember all the criticism that he got over the last couple of years on the increase in the number of deportations. so everybody understands that this bill has to have balance, that as the congresswoman said, once you start tinkering with one part, you have to look at everything altogether and it all works together. >> that sounds like -- people that believe in border protection, who believe you can stop somebody from coming in this country by higher towers or more drones or more people working there i think are right wingers or idiots. if you want to work and you're looking for a job, you're going to come to america, congresswoman. you're going to come in here and find a way in whether you have to take a boat, an airplane or swim or whatever you have to do, you're going to get here. my question is are we going to have a work permit situation that's truly in force so there will be no incentive to do that? because you can't work in the united states unless you're here legally. if we ever have a system like

that, we won't be having this debate 20 or 30 years from now all over again. your thoughts. because we never stop talking about it. >> well, if you let me get a word in edgewise, i will tell you -- >> you got all the time in the world to answer my question. do you have confidence this bill will work? >> i am confident because part of the discussion that's been going on with the house group that's been working on this issue as well as the senate group has been a stronger everify system, and now everify has not been a perfect system. there are some problems with that, but strengthening that system will also allow employers to verify whether workers in this country are here legally or not, and that's a key part of enforcement as well. and i think, you know, ten years down the line, 20 years down the line possibly because our birth rate has fallen dramatically, the birth rate in mexico has fallen dramatically, we're going to need workers from somewhere. so i think we'll have a much different immigration debate in the future as there is this demand for workers, and perhaps we won't view immigrants so

hostilely when we actually need them here contributing to our economy. so i'm confident that with this sort of renewed effort on both sides of the aisle to work out something that is doable, that will have the proper enforcement mechanisms but the proper pathway for people to come in out of the shadows and be fully participating members of our society, i'm very confident that we can get there. i really for the first time in the ten years that i have served in congress, really see this as a very real possibility. >> yeah. my concern is -- i agree with everything you said in terms of economics and social issues, fine. my concern is a government that cannot enforce its laws begins to crumble, and our failure to have an honest, open, progressive immigration policy has been a disaster, and it's not good for the future of our government that it can't do the job of enforcing its own borders, which is essential to any country on this planet. stephanie, last thought. are we going to do this this time? >> well, chris, we have to try.

i think there's a reason why we're talking about immigration reform, because the current system isn't working. i think we've done what we can under existing authority in terms of increasing border security, increasing enforcement, holding employers accountable for these workers that are coming in and overstaying their visas. and, look, we have to try. we have to try comprehensive immigration reform to finally fix the problem. the business community wants it, the labor community wants it, now a bipartisan group in the senate wants it. so we've got to try to get it done. >> okay. my answer is i don't believe any of those groups want it. i don't think business wants it -- >> you're such a pessimist this evening. >> they want cheap, free labor. democrats want support by not offending anybody in the latino community. nobody really wants to get this done. i think john mccain does because he'd like to get re-elected again. anyway, thank you u.s. congresswoman linda sanchez and stephanie cutter. up next, how did joe biden celebrate the inaugural? not well. he got licked again on "saturday night live." he's getting laid into by jason sudeikis.

>> it's me, your vp, joe biden, and i'm inviting you to join me this monday at the dover motor speedway for a little party i like to call the biden bash. as the saying goes, what happens in delaware -- >> much more of that next in the "sideshow." this is "hardball," the place for politics. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow.

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back to "hardball." now to the "sideshow." the "snl" factor. i have been saying for a while one person who could really have an affect on the future of joe biden comes in the form of parody. his name is jason sudeikis. take this weekend's biden bash. >> this past monday millions of americans watched as barack obama took the oath of office for a second term. this coming monday, the party really starts.

>> it's me, your vp, joe biden, and i'm inviting you all to join me this monday at the dover motor speedway in dover, delaware, for a little party i like to call the biden bash. forget the pageantry, forget the inspirational speeches, this one is about fun. we're going to have cotton candy, amateur dog show. be sure to join me for my kung fu exhibition. biden time, ow! almost got it. as the saying goes, what happens in delaware -- >> all proceeds go to biden 2016 presidential exploratory committee. >> you don't think that will matter if biden launches a 2016 presidential campaign? remember what chevy chase on "snl" did to gerry ford. he killed him. here is what fox news found to be missing from the obama/clinton "60 minutes" interview. >> i think for some reason they just didn't dig into anything at

all. >> 30 minutes, come on? >> i would like to know -- did she pass out and hit her head, was she pushed? how did she hit her head and get a concussion? >> she said, quote, i still have some lingering effects from falling on my head. there was no follow-up. >> you're right. >> okay. she was injured. she had a concussion -- >> that's one of the questions i have. >> how did you fall on your head? >> she passed out i think was the story. >> the questions have morphed there. you just saw them, from did she really have a concussion to was she pushed? finally, move over teddy roosevelt or the mascot version of him. for the past few years we've watched the four presidential mascots of the washington nationals compete in a midgame race. teddy lost every game until this past october, over 500 losses in a row. now things are getting interesting. a new competitor was introduced over the weekend. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the newest racing

president, william howard taft. ♪ >> taft was much bigger than that actually. but there you have it. the famously complicated history of roosevelt and taft means there's a lot to work with between roosevelt helping taft get elected back in '08, 1908, then running against him just four years later. taft has his own tie to baseball. the first president to ever throw out the ceremonial first pitch, meaning he started a long history of good, bad, and awkward. the subject was even the topic of an nbc sports special back in the '60s. >> who is that man in the picture? >> you better not let your history teacher hear you ask that question. that's president taft, bobby. the first of our presidents to throw out the ball on opening day. since then they have all done it. that's woodrow wilson, that's franklin d. roosevelt.

that's president eisenhower. you know, just before he came home from europe, he said the first thing he wanted to do was see a ball game, and he did. and that's mr. kennedy, bobby. but i know that you knew that. he used to go to the ballpark and eat hotdogs and drink soda pop, and this year president johnson will take his turn from pitching from that mound. >> gee, joe, after all these things, i guess my book at home is right when they say baseball is a national game. up next, president obama said he hoped his re-election would break the republican fever of obstructionism, but even he admits that hasn't happened, and now paul ryan says the president wants to destroy the republican party. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

now back over to "hardball." ♪ i decided to not comment between the election and the inauguration because i wanted to see what kind of president we were looking at here, what kind of path and trajectory he was putting his administration on,

and all of the statements and all the comments lead me to believe that he's thinking more of a political conquest than political compromise. >> welcome back to "hardball." this weekend congressman paul ryan, you just saw him there, kept up the republican claim of victimhood. that president obama is more interested in defeating them than he is in getting something done for the country. last week house speaker john boehner started that drumbeat saying president obama was out to annihilate the republican party, and ryan amplified it when he spoke at a future of conservatism summit this saturday. >> the president will bait us. he will portray us as cruel and unyielding. we can't get rattled. we won't play the villain in his morality plays. we have to stay united. we have to show that if given the chance, we can govern. that we have better ideas. >> president obama has said he hoped this re-election would break that republican fever of total opposition, but in an interview with "the new republic" interview, brand new

magazine, he said obviously that hasn't happened yet. joining me is columnist cynthia tucker and "the washington post's" eugene robinson. i want to start with gene up here. it seems to me they have this new sort of gee, whiz, we're getting beat up, but they were the party that for four years shut the door on a new president. he won the election -- >> and said, you know, our number one goal is to make him a one-term president, and they said, no, no, no. they said no to measures they had proposed in the past, but as long as he proposed them, they said no. to turn around and then say, oh, he's hitting us, he's beating us up, it's kind of silly, and i don't know -- are they just trying to rally the troops -- >> wasn't this the macho party a couple weeks ago, and they're now becoming the -- >> used to be. now they're victims. >> cynthia, what is the psychology to tell people who have been predatory towards the president that they're somehow now being bullied? what is in the psycho ward that tells them they will unite if we're all victims getting beat up? mitch mcconnell -- >> chris, psychiatry has a term

for this. it's called projection. projection is what the patient does when he is believing that other people are doing to him what he has done to other people, and that is exactly what republicans are doing. and it's not just john boehner and paul ryan. this is the narrative that's taken hold throughout all facets of the republican party. it's repeated ad nauseam on fox news. and you even hear it from some moderate conservative thinkers who ought to know better. obama is out to kill the wounded. now that republicans are down. he's not going to make any proposals that republicans might actually sign onto. instead, he's going to make them look bad on things like immigration. but it's interesting -- >> but that's not working, cynthia. >> -- supposed to be the party of personal responsibility.

>> that narrative, gene, isn't working because quite clearly there's a bipartisan plan on immigration as we see today. anytime boehner, the speaker of the house, who i don't dislike, would come out for a background check on guns, just push one measure, if he could get that through the house, he'd be a leader on the newtown, connecticut, horror. he could be the leader. it would force harry reid to do the same. he doesn't have to be a victim. >> i think dr. tucker's diagnosis was absolutely right. and i think, you know, this is the party's way of trying to deal with its own internal contradictions and issues. the republican party has issues, and the number one issue which they don't want to deal with is that most of the american people don't support their positions on the issues that are important. they don't agree with them on immigration. they don't agree with them on abortion. they don't agree with them on -- >> is this the old avis commercial, cynthia, we try harder. we're not as big as hertz.

we're the little guy that's overcome the other party. maybe they recognize -- they just did a count and realize there aren't as many republicans as democrats. could that be it? here is the president on that subject in an interview with "the new republic." it's a great new look at the magazine. the president was asked about establishing working relationships with republicans and he said, quote, one of the biggest factors in forging bipartisan legislation is going to be how the media shapes debates. if a republican member of congress is not punished on fox news or by rush limbaugh for working with a democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it. boy, the president is really putting up fox and rush there. he's saying these are the no men that scare these guys into doing nothing. >> well, it's kind of -- i don't know if you saw the harry potter movie, but lord voldemort, you couldn't say the name, now he can say the name. he's just laying it out there. >> do you think rush still has the veto on a republican member? can he chase them into the bushes? >> he said he's going to try to

block immigration reform. only he can save us from immigration reform. so we'll see -- >> cynthia, i do believe that rush has more power than any individual member of congress. meaning if he attacks all of them, i don't think he would beat them, but if he says to somebody in georgia, your country, that guy has got to go, he's a bum, he's a sellout, those guys are petrified of rush doing that to them. >> and we're already seeing yet another republican who has been limbaughed and tea partied right out of the senate. saxby chambliss has decided he will not -- he will resign rather than face a challenge from a tea partier. and let me be very clear here. saxby chambliss, senator from georgia, is very conservative, but what was his sin? he actually worked with the gang of six to try to come up with a grand bargain to reduce the deficit.

he wanted to actually compromise with democrats, and for the rush limbaugh wing of the republican party, that is a big no-no. so they have been gunning for saxby for about two years now, and he said never mind. >> i am so shocked at party politics some days. look, corker in tennessee ran a rotten -- i thought a racist campaign against gerald ford. and running the way saxby chambliss ran against max clinton, a war hero, a guy who had been maimed in the war, was horrible, and yet i give them forgiveness in that both have ended up being people who tried to work as legitimate congress people and senators -- >> tried to get something done. >> they did try to get something done, and i give them credit for the way they ended, if not the way they started. in fact, corker is still in the business, but i wish saxby chambliss well in his decision. coming up -- thank you, cynthia and eugene robbins. up next, fox news and sarah

palin call it quits. with a lot of republicans saying the gop has to stop being the stupid party, this can't hurt, getting rid of her, but we'll see. this is "hardball," the place for politics. did i say that?

virginia's plan to rig the electoral system and award electoral votes by congressional district looks to be dead in the water. republican governor bob mcdonnell and ken cuccinelli, the commonwealth's attorney

general, have both come out against the republican plan which would have made it easier for republicans to win that battleground state. that's good news for anyone who cares about fairness in elections and proves that not everyone is in the mickey mouse club in this issue. still, republicans in four other swing states, pennsylvania, ohio, wisconsin, and michigan, are considering similar measures to rig the vote. we'll be right back.

it's the end of an era of sorts. late friday fox news announced it is parting ways with one of its star political pundits, sarah palin. palin spent the last few years giving such astute political observations such as these. >> well, first off, nancy pelosi is a dingbat. she is a perfect spokesperson for president obama's democrat party.

with all due respect to the office of the presidency, when i hear barack obama speak at this point, especially when he lectures about ethics and civility, it's nauseating to me. >> that's a very scary thought, because barack obama is a socialist. he believes in socialism, in redistributing wealth, in confiscating hard-earned dollars. independent, patriotic americans who desire fiscal santa in our beloved nation being called terrorists, heck, sean, if we were real domestic terrorists, shoot, president obama would be wanting to pal around with us, wouldn't he? "time" magazine, consider their list of most influential people in the world, some who have made the list, yours truly. that ought to tell you something right there regarding the credence that we should give "time" magazine and their list of people. >> i wouldn't want to join a club that would accept me as a member.

groucho marx said that there. she said something like it. it could be palin is out of step with the republican party as it wants to be in step coming up as it attempts to rebrand itself. or it could be that her extreme views don't cut it anymore, it could be she is just not box office anymore. lauren ashburn is in contributor to the daily beast, and dana milbank, a brilliant political commentist. >> hey! >> you're probably brilliant too. i thought that was an interesting gag reel. but that's her best. i don't think you have to make fun of her like i did sort of coming out of the last segment. but the stupid party has to make some changes, and maybe fox has to too. why didn't she cut the mustard with fox? they were giving her a ton of money. now she is not on the air anymore. >> her star has fallen. she is not as relevant as she used to be. chris, to put it in terms you can understand, she didn't rate. when someone doesn't rate, you don't review. >> she is only on for a minute. >> you have minute-by-minute ratings, you know that.

what are your minute-by-minute ratings? >> you know what i thought? i thought she had something when she ran for vp. like a lot of people when she went out on that stage and announced with mccain, i thought there was star quality there. i know it's theatrical. that's politics. bill clinton had it. some other people don't have it. something faded. i think it was the way they used her on fox that little booth she was in up in wasilla, it didn't show her dash, her excitement, her panache, sitting in that little booth. >> i think that's part of it. she did fade away. but i don't think it was just the mechanics. it's better to burn out than to fade away. but sarah palin faded away here over a long period of time. you know fox would be interested in keeping her there if she was still having callings. >> what about the comments she made. i think it's a little more nuanced. i do think obama is a man of the center left. but to call him a socialist? i think i'm where he is. but the idea of being a socialist, meaning he wants the government to run all business.

what are you talk about? >> she said he was a socialist, and she said that we were the lame stream media. those were her two points. that was it. what did she think? what did she add to the conversation? she wasn't adding to the conversation. that said, conservative women love her. they love her. >> katie couric once asked her i think a pivotal question. what do you read? and i do believe, that i don't care how original you are in the world you have to read. you have to keep up. you have know what the discussion is about. you have to get into it. >> she said all of them. >> well, i think it's being cut off. you can read the paper anywhere in the world. that's no excuse. >> her stock in trade is being a bomb thrower. and the truth is bomb throwers are a dime a dozen. now you have four or five of them in the house of representatives. they didn't really need that particular demographic represented there. >> steve king. >> and so if they had her firing off this, they could also listen to allen west or michele bachmann or somebody else. i think it says a lot about the declining.

>> the ones you mention had faded to, michele bachmann. >> i think economic times are better. the demographic doesn't work as well when the stock market is at a five-year high. >> do you think that tina fey brought her down a bit? >> just as you were talking about biden being imitated on "snl," i think tina fey, and "game change", the movie completely toppled her. >> i still think a couple of those clips were tina fey. >> you can't tell. just won another aware, the s.a.g., the screen actors guild. she is good for something. thanks for joining us. dana, you're unbelievable. when we return -- you're unbelievable too. the republicans need to avoid being a parental second place party. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. [ female announcer ] going to sleep may be easy, but when you wake up

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